Kobato Episode 18

February 16, 2010

This episode was a bit unnecessary. While I usually cheer on manga related plot points this one came a little too late and the impact of the sick loan shark was completely lost as Kobato has cried over someone else. You get no tears sick loan shark. See my anime only watchers, when Sayaka got sick from overworking Kobato cried over her and told Fujimoto that people often die from small things. In the manga this loan shark was the small issue, what with him and his appendicitis. Kobato cried over this piece of trash which made her golden heart shine much more brightly. It is easy to feel sorry for your friends when they get sick but to feel bad for a jerk intimidating away your kids is another. Kobato loves all even when they don’t deserve it. So that is why Kobato crying that someone can die over a small issue is more powerful in the manga than the anime.

So that is why this episode almost…doesn’t make sense to me. Not only is it incredibly fillery but the issue was already covered with Sayaka being sick. I mean, they could have Mr. Loan Shark standing in front of the school acting all intimidating but they could have skipped his illness and added some other plot point in there. It was unnecessary and just ate up minutes. 😦

So while this episode was kinda fail with the appendicitis and Loan Shark it did do a good job of driving home how evil Okiura is. Or maybe how kind he is. He sends over one of his loan shark minions to scare away the parents and make them withdrawal their youngins. Evil yes. But could Okiura be trying to minimizing the amount of people who are getting caught in the crossfire? He wants people to leave the nursery so Sayaka can close down the school before his father, THE REAL BAD GUY, can do any real damage.

But seriously though…..mothers getting all weirded out that someone is standing out in front of a school? Japanese mothers worry too much. It’s not like he was naked or screaming or anything. This episode also does a good job in doing what I think it should have done a long time ago! Bring on jealous Fujimoto. Oh yes Domoto has finally made his move. I guess they were just laying the ground work so Domoto asking out Kobato didn’t come out of left field. Not that Kobato got what was going on ANYWAY (aka Sakura…or Sakura) but the point is to make Fujimoto jealous, not to make Kobato confused. Hopefully next episode there is a conversation between Domoto and Fujimoto where Domoto says that he waited for Fujimoto make his move but since he wasn’t Domoto has decided to take Kobato for himself. Minus that creepiness with the word take of course. This might be dreaming on my part since Domoto isn’t the mean type and Fujimoto is good at hiding his emotions but I can DREAM OKAY! So if this episode only existed to make that this scenario a possibility I approve.

At this point I like Domoto over Fujimoto. I shall cheer for the underdog that has no chance of winning. If this were to happen in real life even a person as clueless as Kobato would go OKAY I shall go with the person who actually pays attention to me and is nice rather than the aloof and jerky boy who makes my life miserable. But this is anime which means the semi mean guy wins. Because girls like a bad boy!

I think it is safe to say that manga related episodes are over with. Or close to being over with. The manga chapters come out as slow as mud and the artist had to start on this show at the very least Spring of 2009. So I probably should stop whining about how things are going exactly as planned and watch how they decide to end Kobato as manga Kobato isn’t anywhere close to being finished. At least anime Kobato is collecting CANDY at a reasonable rate. XD

Next week I shall not complain when everything seems fillery because Kobato’s love life seems necessary to me. Her…..realization won’t happen the same way as it did in the manga but that’s fine. I like Christmas! So I look forward to seeing how they make Fujimoto seem less like a jerk and a more acceptable boyfriend for Kobato. Also I will have tissues on hand for when Domoto loses. If I have any left that is….

Overall:

Kobato is a great example of why an anime doesn’t necessarily need huge production-values or incredibly solid direction, in order to have a soul. Wonderful characters can be written with any kind of budget, and while it definitely helps, it’s definitely not a necessary.

Because really: at this point I’ve been completely captured by Kobato’s charms. This isn’t exactly like Letter Bee, in which the characters have enough charms for me to keep watching, this is something more: at this point I consider Kobato to be a genuinely good series and I really admire how well the creators managed to flesh out Kobato and make her such a likable lead.

When it first appeared, the debt-problem sure seemed cheesy. But here’s the thing: it was cheesy, if it just was introduced and resolved within one episode. At this point the debt problems have evolved in a great driving force for the drama among the characters. It ain’t gonna destroy the world, we’re not stuck in a cheesy love triangle. Instead we have a bunch of people who try to protect something that they truly care for, even though the odds slowly stack up against them. This episode wasn’t the best but at least its plot is getting there.

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2 comments

Kobato is starting to be a very good series for me. I thought it would have fate like Tsubasa and xxxHolic but in fact it actually is quite charming and cute in its own way. Oh and boo whoo to Fujimoto!